(Mentions the unresolved nature of Brad’s case and the corruption of the Mexican government)

by Frontera NorteSur

Rodriguez’s murder topped a spectacularly violent week, in which victims in public thoroughfares were shot during peak business hours, businesses were firebombed and the bodies were dumped with intimidating messages in public places.

Posted on November 14, 2008

El Diario de Juarez journalist Armando Rodriguez Carreon was well-known for countless stories about gangland killings in his hometown of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. For years, the 40-year-old police beat reporter tirelessly published pieces about the latest executions in a violence-torn city.

Rodriguez launched his journalistic career as a technician and photographer for the Ciudad Juarez Channel 44 television station before moving into print during the early 1990s. His newspaper career closely paralleled the violent rise of the Juarez drug cartel and the women’s slayings that became known worldwide as femicides. Popularly known as “El Choco,” Rodriguez was among the first reporters to write about the discoveries of raped and slain women on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez.

Rodriguez’s stories, which relied a lot on police sources and often did not implicate any particular suspects, were characterized by an almost matter-of-fact quality that kept to the narrative even as violence kept escalating. On Thursday morning, Nov. 13, Rodriguez became a victim himself when he was shot outside his home by a gunman who reportedly fled in a waiting car. (more…)

On Monday October 27th 2008, the 2nd anniversary of Brad’s murder, Friends of Brad Will in Mexico, New York, Houston, San Francisco, and Portland held press conferences and rallies to publicize our cause and our new demands.

In New York, Free Speech Radio News covered the hunger strike and protest. Photos are online at nyc.indymedia.org.

In Houston, activists met with press and representatives from the Consulate. Read: Houston Indymedia coverage, hear: KPFT radio news coverage.

In San Francisco, Friends of Brad Will gathered at the Mexican Consulate to remember Brad and the people of Oaxaca and issued a statement of demands to the Mexican Consulate. Coverage on indybay.

In Portland, The Friends of Brad Will, along with supporters of Oaxaca, gathered in front of the Mexican Consulate to call for justice in the case of Brad Will’s murder by Mexican paramilitaries, and justice for the people of Oaxaca. Coverage on Portland Indymedia.

In Mexico, actions were covered in El Universal (in Spanish), and the LA Times blog.

In Uruguay, activists issued a solidarity statement (in Spanish).

From article: “According to Robert Jereski from Friends of Brad Will, his organization chose to oppose Plan Mexico outright instead of pushing for human rights conditions because “we saw what happened with Plan Colombia and those human rights conditions. They didn’t stop that country from becoming the worst country in the world for rights for labor activists, where hundreds have been assassinated by the government or government-supported paramilitaries. We saw how ineffective the conditions were, that [Plan Colombia] resulted in 4 million displaced people driven off of resource-rich land by the same thugs the US government has been supporting through the Uribe government and military. We had serious doubts about (the) value of human rights conditions.

The big players in human rights, however, remained silent throughout much of the debate over Plan Mexico. Human Rights Watch did not take a stance on the initiative until after it was passed. Amnesty International only weighed in publicly after the measure had passed both houses of congress. Its Mexico office circulated a letter calling US collaboration with Mexico “appropriate and timely” and simply requested that human rights conditions be included in the final version that would be sent to the president. ”

Posted by Kristin Bricker - October 24, 2008

Official human rights ombudsman says the government believed Plan Mexico funds were conditioned on resolving Brad Will case

The Mexican government’s human rights watchdog, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish initials) slammed the Federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) yesterday over the arrests of Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) supporters in the Brad Will murder case.

The PGR arrested three APPO supporters and has issued warrants for eight more in the Will case. José Luis Soberanes Fernández, the head of the CNDH, said that with the arrests, the PGR made the decision “to ignore the body of evidence that we sent it” regarding the case.

One principal component of the CNDH report that the PGR explicitly rejected was that Will was shot from a distance of 35-55 meters, not the 2 meters that the PGR claims. Despite the fact that a forensic video specialist hired by the Will family has found bullet streaks in the last two frames of Will’s video, and that anyone who shot Will at close range would have appeared in his video since he was shot head-on, the PGR maintains that the APPO supporters standing around Will were the ones who murdered him. (more…)

Nick Cooper went to Mexico City to receive an award for Brad and he was interviewed twice — once before his trip by a radio station in Phoenix, and also during his trip on KPFT Houston.

On September 30th, 2008, in Mexico City,The National Council of Citizen Communicators (known for its Spanish initials CONACC) presented an award in the name of Brad Will. Nick Cooper of Friends of Brad Will attended the ceremony to accept the award in Brad’s name.

CONACC was founded on September 17, 2006 at the Journalists Club of Mexico, a day after the formal establishment of the Democratic National Convention. Initially the founding states were the Federal District and Durango with the later they were joined Sonora, Baja California, Yucatan, the State of Mexico, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Nuevo León, Guerrero, the United States, Venezuela, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Panama.

CONACC celebrated its second anniversary with the Ricardo Flores Magon award to reporters and “citizen communicators” for achievements in journalism, ethics, and commitment to the community. Other recipients included families, friends and suporters of those killed in the the 2006 police attack in Atenco, and families of those killed in the March cross-border raid by Colombian troops of a FARC encampment in Ecuador.

more coverage and audio in Spanish

Nick’s presentation in Spanish (English below):

Es un gran privilegio el recibir este honor aquí, además es un privilegio mio que tengo suficientes recursos economicos-, y el apoyo de mucha gente para poder venir. Mil gracias a Robert, Lee, Hardy, Christine, Selina, Massoud, Dorinda, Julita, Patricia, Richard, Luis, Magdalena, y Alexander por la ayuda que me han dado. El privilegio desempeña un gran papel en la vida de gente como Brad Will y yo mismo, quienes tenemos suficiente para viajar, tener equipo, de llegar a un lugar, participar, aprender, hacer periodismo, y al final regresar a casa. Sin embargo, en octubre de 2006, Brad no fue capaz de salir de Oaxaca vivo y regresar a casa. (more…)

An altar to Brad Will, created by artist Tanyth Berkeley, whose work has been featured at the Museum of Modern Art will be on display at the world renowned BELLWETHER gallery.

July 10th - August 8th, 2008 Opening Reception: Thursday, July 10th, 6-8PM

Vanessa Albury, Tanyth Berkeley & Todd Chandler, Tammy Rae Carland,
Patricia Cronin, Amrita Das, Leela Devi, Rob Hauschild, Paa Joe,
Joss paper effigies, Roy Kortick, Lisa Ross, Victorian hair
wreaths, Marc Swanson & Joe Mama-Nitzberg

Curated by Becky Smith

If Love Could Have Saved You, You Would Have Lived Forever is an
exhibition of art and objects that reference the aesthetics, material
culture, and traditional gestures surrounding death and remembrance.
(more…)

MEDIA ADVISORY
http://www.americaspolicy.org/

CIP Americas Policy Program: “Plan Mexico” Likely to Backfire

For Immediate Release — June 30, 2008

On June 26, the U.S. Senate approved the “Merida Initiative,” an aid package that provides $400 million dollars to Mexican security forces and other agencies for use in counterterrorism, counternarcotics and border security measures. The bill now goes to President Bush for signature.

Congress approved the initiative, more commonly known as “Plan Mexico,” after first adding then removing some human rights conditions that the Mexican government rejected as a violation of national sovereignty. (more…)

Great piece by journalist Clarence Page. One mistake: his implication that Amnesty International opposed the Merida Initiative. They didn’t; they supported it on ‘condition’ that it included notoriously inadequate human rights safeguards. Even though the final bill did not have even these safeguards, Amnesty refused to issue a statement of opposition to the Merida Initiative.

Sad testament to that human rights organization.

RJ

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080629/OPINION03/806290306

Drug wars next door

As if our military didn’t have its hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan, the head of the Minuteman Project border security group seems to think they might also make good narcotics cops.

Minuteman cofounder Jim Gilchrist suggested in recent radio interviews that the U.S. give Mexico 12 months to corral its criminal drug cartels and rising violence, particularly in border towns like Juarez and Tijuana — or deploy the U.S. Army to do the job. (more…)

AFL-CIO opposes the Merida Initiative

Clicking on the link above will allow you to download the AFL-CIO pdf of letters to Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Berman (D-California) and Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight Congressman Delahunt (D-Massachusetts).

We’ve been letting them know what they should do:

i) publicly oppose Bush’s Merida Initiative;
ii) hold hearings w/opponents to the Merida Initiative; and
iii) officially table consideration of Merida Initiative for funding until the next President, who would have to live w/destabilizing effects of Bush’s newest ill-thought out “security” initiative, is elected.

They should not be only listening to boosters of Bush’s newest ’security’ aid package, allowing it to be tucked away in the Iraq Emergency Supplemental instead of standing on its own merits (or lack thereof).

UN press freedom prize goes to crusading Mexican journalist This is especially relevant for two reasons: 1) they’re killing radio announcers this week, 2) Puebla is very similar to Oaxaca in having a corrupt PRI governor protected by Calderon, and for the same reason: needing PRI votes in congress. ND

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 07:51:00 04/10/2008
PARIS – Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro will be given the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize for her work exposing political corruption and organized crime, the UN cultural body said Wednesday.

“Through investigative journalism, she uncovered the involvement of businessmen, politicians and drug traffickers in prostitution and child pornography” in Mexico, said UNESCO in a statement announcing the award. (more…)